"The never-ending Theo Epstein compensation saga finally has ended.

Well, almost.

Four months after letting Epstein escape the final year of his contract to become the Chicago Cubs president, the Red Sox received hard-throwing reliever Chris Carpenter in return. Although the issue lingered long enough that the commissioner's office threatened to intercede, Sox general manager Ben Cherington said the teams negotiated the deal without assistance.

There is, however, one unsettled matter. In what Cherington described as an "extra element in the trade," the teams swapped players to be determined before the end of spring training."